Jeep Cherokee 4.7L Stroker Engine

4.7L Stroker Engine

No, no... NO! ... Get yer mind outta the gutter! Not
--THAT-- kind of a stroker...

THIS kind!

(And, YES... that was a gratuitous picture of a
semi-naked woman. A very, very, VERY GIFTED semi-naked woman!
)

So, whaddaya want a stroker fer
bunkie?

Before you set out to build a stroker... sit down
and make a list of equipment your XJ has now... and what kind of use
the motor will see.

For example: Ya have 3.55 gears, 31" tires and
drive it daily 300 miles one way to the Home For Unwed Mothers where you do
charity work
.
orMaybe you are running 4.88's, 37" tires and only use it
rock-crawlingorMaybe ya have 33's, 4.10's & do a lot of
towing.

(You get the picture...) Once ya have a basic list of things
that will affect what rpm range the engine will be living at, check one of the
tire / gear charts listed on the tech page & find out what rpms your motor
is going to be running and build accordingly. Rpm's are gonna affect everything
from cam choice to engine longevity so plan accordingly.

My 4.7L Stroker's Operating
Conditions:

I am building this engine for my current daily
driver (1990 XJ w/ 220k miles) which will see fewer street miles later but for
time being will remain my commute/tow rig. I will be running 4.88:1 gears, 35"
T'birds, daily highway use w/ occasional towing and a highway rpm of about
2750-3000 rpms. An appropriate cam was selected & some extra $$$ sunk into
having the lower end assembled and spin balanced where a 'low buck' / lower rpm
motor could get away w/ balancing the piston & rod assemblies individually
or not at all. (Good idea to at least do the assemblies... cheap
insurance.)

My Goals:

I'll take reliability over squeezing the last ounce of
HP out of the engine!

The engine must run well on pump gas and have a final
compression of ~9.5:1. (That means taking the time to get the 'quench' right
& a bit more $.)

Parts and machine work for this rebuilt will be
purchased/done w/ 25% off road & light towing duty, 75% street in
mind.

4.88's & 35's so engine must be happy at
2,750-3,000 RPMs at hiway speeds.

NOTE! - KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THESE
ECU's!!!They are -not- marked P4529334 on the ECU; that is
only the Mopar Performance part number! Actual Bendix computer is
#P4532129 as marked on the ECU itself!

Mopar Performance # P4529334Bendix #
P4532129

260.00 shippedThanks
Bill!

I have approximately $1900 in the block and head
including ALL parts, machining and labor.

Keep in mind you CAN build a stroker for MUCH LESS
$$$... depends on what ya want and how ya wanna go about it. For me, I'll sink
a few extra $$$ now to have an engine even more reliable than the old Renix
motor is at 210,000.

Stroker Engine Assembly Pics

Right
after figuring out how to get it onto the engine stand without a hoist... the
first thing was to give it a fresh coat of Mopar Black paint.MMmmmmmm!
Paint fumes!

Shot of the bore showing Sealed Power 677P .060 over
pistons.Pistons were dished 1.30 mm deeper prior to assembly in order to
get the compression below 10:1.

You need to
assemble the pick-up tube to the pump. I gently tapped it into place with a
rubber mallet & a Crescent wrench set on the flange. First put the pick-up
tube in the freezer and GENTLY heat the oil pump with a propane torch set on
LOW heat. A few taps (with a little grease) and it went right in.

Oil pan WILL need to be clearanced here with a ball-peen hammer
to allow enough room in pan for oversized Hi-Volume pump. Don't get carried
away... as ya can bust the pan where this plate is welded in if you're not
careful!

Same area of oil pan shown from outside. Again... Don't get
carried away with the hammer!!! When done, pan should set flat against
bottom of block all along both sides of pan when centered up with a couple of
pan bolts.

Installing
the Mopar Performance camshaft. Be sure to oil up the cam with the included
lube!

Installing the roller timing chain. Be sure to align the timing
marks as shown.

Buttoning up the bottom-end with "modified"
oil pan and a new 1-piece gasket.

Flip the block over and drop those well
lubed lifters into their bores. After *** a little head-work (LINK HERE) ***,
it was time to put the head onto the block. Be Carefull! Do not trash the
gasket! Use a couple of head bolts to line it up.

Obviously, there are a heckuva lot of
pics leftt to be posted... hang in there! My BRAND NEW Western Digital 250GB
hard drive committed suicide last fall while consolidating several drives
including the one that had many of my website articles & pics. I've found a
site that shows how to attempt to 'repair' the drive long enough to transfer
files out... we'll see how that goes. Western Digital graciously refused to
honor the warranty but did send me to a 'partner' that quoted $2,000 to
retrieve my data.

Now we're talkin'! It's offficially a 'long block'! Head is
on & torqued down. Lifters and pushrods are in and rockers are installed.
Still need to button down the oil pan after installing the timing cover.

Links To Other Stroker Pages or Related Info

I highly recommend you read through Dino's info
which is at the top of this list befire you do anything
else!

After that, take your time and just go on down the
list of sites. Think it through as ya go and get an idea of both the homebrew
and shop built philosophy to building a 4.0L based stroker. It's pretty
much a 'you get what you pay for' world but with some ingenuity and planning
you really can build a torquin' motor for about the same $ as a standard
rebuild.

That means
toTake SEVERAL days to READ through existing articles & forum
posts!

Seriously, if you'll do a little reading you WILL learn a
great deal about stroking your 4.0L Jeep engine and gain an idea of what
questions you NEED to ask.Everyone will be great answering ANY questions
for those seriously trying to get it right the first time but be sure to read,
search and plan before asking the ultimate 'Noob'
question...

"Can someone post a detailed
list of every part I need for my stroker with prices and where to buy
everything at?"

I can almost guarantee you that
this is one question you won't get answered...

Believe
me... every question YOU want to ask has already been asked (and
answered)!

Now...

IF you've read all of the above
information...

AND you've visited ALL of the the sites
above...

(AND have actually READ the information they
provide...)

AND you have thought about what kind of motor you
want to build...

THEN it's a good bet you can now answer 95% of
the questions you had at the beginning.

Now it's time to answer your remaining questions about
4.0L based strokers by visiting the motherlode of Jeep stroker engine info at: